Barry Zito awful at a time when the SF Giants would like to see him better

There might be a Giant fan or two in the wilderness who really believe that Barry Zito will “find it” this year and contribute. Then there are the masses, who will get a glimpse of Zito’s line in a 5-2 loss to the Chicago White Sox and fear every game in which he takes the ball.

Nine of the 18 hitters he faced in 2 1/3 innings hit safely. That includes A.J. Pierzynski and Alex Rios, who hit back-to-back homers in the third inning. Zito walked two and struck out three. After manager Bruce Bochy yanked him, Zito went to the bullpen to toss another 25 pitches so he could raise his pitch count to the mid-80s.

Bochy was just asked what he really wants out of Zito this year.

“Just give us a chance to win,” the skipper said. “He got knocked out today, which is what you want to avoid. He never got settled in. He just couldn’t find it.”

Zito has little time left to find it. He has one more start in Arizona, Friday night against San Diego. It wouldn’t surprise me if they sent him down to the minor-league camp to work on his stuff out of the stadium limelight. Zito then would face the A’s in the final exhibition on April 4, five days before he takes the ball in Denver on April 9 for his first regular-season start.

Zito failed today to accomplish what he had worked on all winter with Tom House at USC and this spring, to not rush his delivery, keep the ball down and throw all of his pitches out of the same arm slot. He’s having the same problem all of us duffers have on the golf course. We know what we need to do when we swing. We can even sense when we’re screwing up in the middle of our swing, but we can’t fix it.

“Ideally you’d like to make the adjustment on the next pitch,” he said. “When you’re locked in, you feel it and go. Today I was laboring to make the adjustments. It took three pitches instead of one.”

I’ve said it before. The expectations and demands on Zito this season are not high. As the Giants’ fifth-best starter, they just need him to go five or six innings and allow two or three runs. Keeping the Giants in the game, as Bochy put it. You wonder how much rope Bochy and general manager will give him, especially with the way Eric Surkamp has pitched this spring.

Zito has had some better outings down here, but you can’t like the progression. He’s getting worse by the start, not better, and time is running out.

“You’re right,” Bochy said. “You’re at the point now where you’re hoping to get locked in, and that wasn’t the case today.”

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Giants played a very lackluster game at Camelback Ranch. Bochy kept most of his regulars in Scottsdale and gave them most of the day off so they can get “refreshed” for the final week of the Cactus League. He also has some guys dinged up. Brandon Belt aggravated a hip bruise while sliding Saturday. Emmanuel Burriss still has a sore hammy. Same goes for Ryan Theriot’s ankle.

Bochy also said he plans to scale back Pablo Sandoval’s extra conditioning this week to lessen his fatigue for the final 10 exhibitions. Sandoval is hitting .200 and Bochy wants him to focus on his stroke now, not his stomach. The Giants did not like the Panda’s weight this offseason and set a goal for Opening Day. What that number is I don’t know, but Bochy said Sandoval is “real close.”

In other notes:

You can tell the Giants are serious about catcher Hector Sanchez as a possible bench candidate. In the ninth inning Bochy had Sanchez pinch-hit with two on and one out against a hard-throwing lefty named Hector Santiago just to see how Sanchez would look coming off the bench and batting right-handed, which is a definite need. The showcase did not go his way. He was woefully late on Santaigo’s fastball and grounded into a double play that ended Hector-vs.-Hector matchup and the game.

Tomorrow Ryan Vogelsong makes his Cactus League debut with a 40-pitch start against Kansas City at Scottsdale Stadium. Brian Wilson, who has not thrown in an exhibition since March 17 after experiencing general arm fatigue, is expected to pitch an inning as well after throwing in a couple of minor-league games.

Reliever Scott Munter’s comeback took a painful detour today. He relieved Zito in the third inning and hurt his right calf hopping off the mound to cover first base after his only hitter, Eduardo Escobar, hit a grounder to first.

Two pitchers destined for Fresno and have thrown well down here had good outings again. Ramon Ortiz and Matt Yourkin each threw shutout baseball, Ortiz for 2 2/3 innings and Yourkin for two. It’s always nice to have Triple-A depth.

Bochy said Heath Hembree will start the year as Fresno’s closer. That should be one tough go for Pacific Coast League hitters in the later innings, because Dan Otero also will start there. Otero, another right-hander, has a 1.50 ERA in six Cactus League outings, three of which he has saved.

A request to people who still insist on proposing to their significant others at ballparks: Stop it. Just stop it.